It had been such a long time since she had seen Tadgh, and having him invite her over for a little was a welcome thought. He’d been a great source of support and a good friend no matter where he was or where she was at the time. She smiled at the gifts, in truth she wouldn’t know where to begin wrapping them. When she bought people gifts for birthdays she tended to gift them in pre-made gift boxes or gift bags to make life so easy. “They’re really beautiful.” She turned her smile in his direction. “Of course, go ahead! You know I’ll listen to just about anything.”
It was nice to see Maddie in Malmö and Tadgh honestly couldn’t recall the last time he’d seen his friend out and about. He was always the one shuttling around, hard to get a hold of, traveling the world. Maddy, to him at least, seemed a person of another time, pre-shuttle and pre-global economics. Her ambitions were still rooted in kindness and her drive to see the world seemed to still revolve purely around the things close to her heart. At least, that’s what he could tell and he loved her all the more for it. It was one of the many reasons he chose to confide in her, after all, this big secret could not be shared with his best friend.
Tadgh reached over to little wooden box, with a red ribbon tied neatly around it. “I made this.” He smiled passing it to Madeleine. “It’s Maja’s big gift. Filled with all the little things that made me fall in love with her. All the little things that made us, us. Quotes torn from books, lyrics written down. If you flip it over, all the numbers on the bottom are the coordinates for all of the big moments of our lives together- where we met, our first kiss, when I gave her my family’s claddagh... and here, where I’ll be asking her to marry me. Do you think she’ll say yes?”